


May Love Be Our Prayer

by SmolPotato3404



Series: Sledgefu Week 2020 [6]
Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Nightmares, POV Change, Post-War, Religious Guilt, Sharing a Bed, Sledgefu Week 2020, sledgefu week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25650946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolPotato3404/pseuds/SmolPotato3404
Summary: Waking up to the soft first rays of light shining into the room through the blinds, Eugene felt safe when he was with Snafu. It was nothing more than that, at first.-The boys find comfort in each other while navigating their way back into the world.
Relationships: Mary Frank Sledge & Eugene Sledge, Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Series: Sledgefu Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851721
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	May Love Be Our Prayer

**Author's Note:**

> Day 6: Healing. There is some implied self-harm, although it isn’t graphic and doesn’t get carried through, I thought I’d warn you just in case. It starts in the third paragraph.

It hadn't taken long after Snafu showed up at Eugene’s doorstep for the two of them to fall back into their old easy camaraderie. Navigating the path back into civilian life was as difficult as it was alone, but with each other, they found a sense of comfort. They became practically inseparable once more. Whether it was to pick up flour at the store or biking down to the creek, they did it all together. Snafu still wore that shit-eating grin upon his face, but the night Snafu came to his door with blank, frightened eyes, he knew something had changed.

This had been going on for quite some nights now. Snafu would sneak into the comfort of Eugene’s bed in the dead of night and quietly pad back to his room in the early hours of the morning. It was the only way either of them could find some semblance of peace while sleeping. Comforting each other through the nightmares or wrapped in a gentle embrace. Waking up to the soft first rays of light shining into the room through the blinds, Eugene felt safe when he was with Snafu. It was nothing more than that, at first.

Snafu was the one to hold Eugene through the darkest nights. Snafu was the one to wipe frightened tears off his face. Snafu was the one to take the blade out of his hands when Eugene felt the pressure of it all weighing too greatly on him. There on the bathroom floor, Eugene felt Snafu’s chest shaking along with his own broken sobs. Time was secondary to them in that moment. All Eugene could focus on was the shaky breaths of the man before him and the warmth radiating through his chest where his heart was hammering at a frantic pace. Snafu was here with him, healthy, _alive._ It was the first time he realized that he was as much an anchor to Snafu as Snafu was to him. Snafu was scared of losing him.

Eugene was the one to reintroduce the beauty of nature to Snafu, that it was not just rocks and earth they were all sent to die on. Eugene was the one to notice the far too long stares Snafu gave him whenever he spoke. Eugene was the one to kiss Snafu first. With the birds chirping all around them and his heart beating too fast, Eugene took Snafu’s face in his hands at last. It was the most amazing he’d ever felt in a long time. Everything was just so right. If he could just find salvation in Snafu then everything else would fall into place. Snafu broke away first without a word, and they didn’t speak of it again, much to Eugene’s silent mortification.

That night he dreamed. He was going back up the lines on Okinawa, the putrid smell of death and mud infiltrating his nostrils. He heard the crying of a baby and the desperate pleas of its mother trying to hand it off. Terror filled Eugene and his eyes watered as he turned away right as both the mother and her baby were blown to bits. He came face to face with Snafu who shoved him into the mud where maggots ate at the rotting skulls of his comrades’ faces. As he scrambled to get back onto his feet, Snafu pushed him back down with a dirt-covered boot, grinning insanely. ‘You shouldn'a done that Sledgehammer,’ he smiled right before aiming his pistol and firing without hesitation.

Eugene shot up in bed violently, feeling around for Snafu next to him. _Real Snafu._ Snafu, who was suffering just as much as he was. Snafu, who actually cared about him. Catching his breath, he realized his bed was empty. It was the first time in months he’d woken up alone. Scared that Snafu had left him again, he clambered out of bed and down the hall to the guest room. He hesitated to knock and slowly opened the unlocked door. Almost instantly, Snafu sat up, wide, sleepless eyes meeting his own. They didn’t say much as Snafu shifted to allow Eugene under the covers next to him.

“Was it an especially bad one?” whispered Snafu, his breath tickling Eugene’s skin. All he could do was nod silently as Snafu pressed light kisses next to his ear. The first time that he ever did that. “That’s okay, just put it out of your mind, cher.”

He couldn’t quite get the image out of his head. 

“You’ll be okay, cher.” A kiss.

Cold eyes devoid of any sentiment. As if he’d never cared about him at all.

“We’ll be okay.” _A kiss._

Such a contrast to the warm breath tickling his skin, thawing the freezing doubt trickling through his veins. 

“Snaf…” should he even say it? “Merriell, I think I love you.” _Silence._

“I know, Gene.”

The tiny metal cross hanging around his neck burned straight into his skin as he turned to hide in Snafu’s neck.

Mary Frank was not blind. She could see the long stares between the two boys and the slow rolled smiles that made her son’s face flush pink. Of course, it concerned her. It agonized her that every night she could hear the soft thud of footsteps belonging to a certain ex-marine, and the quiet creak of her son’s door opening to let him in. She had no idea what went on in there, but it made her uneasy. Even if she wanted to confront them, her husband reasoned that it wasn’t until Merriell came that they had stopped hearing the suffering of their son in the next room, and she was half inclined to agree. 

She knew that she couldn’t heal her son anymore. Not like when he was young and she would carefully place a band-aid over his scraped knee. She knew this hurt was much worse, that there was no band-aid big enough for this type of wound. She knew that in a way, Merriell was good for her son. She just wished that it wasn’t in the way she suspected. It couldn’t be _love._ But she knew she couldn’t fool herself, not when that smitten look was written all over Merriell’s face. So when Eugene announced that he was leaving with Merriell to New Orleans for a couple of weeks, she pulled him aside. 

“Eugene, I just wanted to tell you,” Mary Frank paused, noticing the concern in his eyes. She wanted answers, she wanted to hear that there was nothing between him and Merriell, she wanted to keep him from ever leaving her side, but she had to fight that instinct. A glimmer of metal poking out of the collar of Eugene’s shirt caught her eye. It made her nose sting and her eyes water. After all these years, her son still wore his faith near his heart. “ _Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”_

_James 5:16._ She only hoped it would remind him to trust in his faith above all else. Help him remember his upbringing and the values she taught him. He just nodded silently, wiping a tear Mary Frank was unaware of rolling down her cheek. 

“I’ll be back in a few weeks,” he reassured her. 

He did not come back. 

Sitting on the train with Snafu reminded Eugene of a very familiar scene from not too long ago. This time they would get their new beginning. This time they would be okay. This time, their hearts would get the chance to heal properly. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading


End file.
